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Harmful algal bloom legislation introduced in Senate

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Recently, Senator Olivia Snowe (R) from Maine, along with seven other Senators including Senator Bill Nelson (D) from Florida, introduced the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 2009.

This bill would enhance the research programs established in the original 1998 bill and will develop and promote a comprehensive plan for a national strategy to address HABs and hypoxia through baseline research, forecasting and monitoring. It will also address mitigation and control by helping communities detect, control and mitigate coastal algal bloom and hypoxia events.

In her remarks to introduce the bill Senator Snowe said that this program

has “greatly enhanced our ability to predict outbreaks of harmful algal

blooms and the extent of hypoxic zones. But knowing when outbreaks will

occur is only half the battle.”

This bill will take the program to its next logical step. It will provide

funding for additional research into mitigation and prevention of HABs and

hypoxia, and will enable communities like Sanibel, Lee County and others

in Southwest Florida and around the nation to develop response strategies

to more effectively reduce their effects on our coastal communities.

Senator Snowe went on to say, “While we have made great strides in bloom

prediction and monitoring, it is clear that these problems have not gone

away, but rather increased in magnitude. Harmful algal blooms remain

prevalent nationwide, and areas of hypoxia, also known as ‘dead zones’ are

now occurring with increasing frequency.”

She continued, “The amendments contained in this legislation would enhance

the nation’s ability to predict, monitor, and ultimately control harmful

algal blooms and hypoxia. Understanding when these blooms will occur is

vital, but the time has come to take this program to the next level-to

determine not when an outbreak will occur, but how to reduce its intensity

or prevent its occurrence altogether. This bill would build on NOAA’s

successes in research and forecasting by creating a program to mitigate

and control HAB outbreaks.”

Most importantly for communities like Sanibel, this bill recognizes the

need to improve coordination between state and local resource managers.

These are the people who are on the front lines, the people who make the

decisions to close beaches, fishing areas and shellfish beds. While of

course these decisions are important to protect human health and life they

also have significant economic impacts. To do this, the bill would

“mandate creation of Regional Research and Action Plans that would

identify baseline research, possible state and local government actions to

prepare for and mitigate the impacts of HABs, and establish outreach

strategies to ensure the public is informed of the dangers these events

can present. A regional focus on these issues will ensure a more effective

and efficient response to future events.”

Officials at PURRE have been talking to Congress about HAB legislation for more than two years now. This bill was developed with the cooperation and

coordination with PURRE and other stakeholders around the country. Now

that there is a bill in the Senate, PURRE will continue to work on its passage

and hopefully its implementation. While there is no companion bill in the

House, PURRE is working with the House Science Committee to have this bill

introduced in that body after successfully working with the Committee to get a hearing on HABs to discuss the extent of the problem last year.